Foodie France (Don't Miss These Books!)

A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment is the perfect pairing for Mastering the Art of French Eating: Lessons in Food and Love From a Year in Paris. 

Travel back to the beginning and into present day in A Bite-Sized History of France with the history of France through its foods; this is the definitive book. Every chapter is a close look at a key event in French history along with the foodie consequences/side effects/highlights. It's absolutely fascinating. Of course, there are lots of chapters about wines and liquors, including Bordeaux, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, cognac, champagne ("the devil's wine"), and absinthe ("the curse of the green fairy"), as well as many of France's wonderful cheeses, plus all of France's iconic foods, but there are also intriguing chapters about salt, honey, peanuts, and sugar.

In Mastering the Art of French Eating, Ann Mah has married a diplomat and her life has become a round of moves. And then her husband is posted to Paris, and Mah is living in the city of her dreams. But that ends quickly, and Mah's husband is suddenly reposted to Iraq, and Mah must find a way to focus her days without her husband. She does, writing a novel, taking a job in a library, and writing a blog about French foods. Her research takes her to Brittany where she studies crepes, to Provence where she studies Soup au Pistou, and Burgundy where she studies Boeuf Bourguignon, along with lots of other food adventures. 

If you have any interest in France and/or French foods and drinks, these are a must-reads.

I started Paris in July off with two books of light fiction, and I spent last week reading about foodie France. This week I move to reading two classical French books, Swann's Way by Marcel Proust, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein, and Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit. 

I also plan to take on these beautiful children's books: Children of the World; Solar System; World Atlas Sticker Book; Here and There; and A Place to Stay, all from Barefoot Books.

Take a look at the lists Wendy at Falconer's Library made to celebrate her 50th birthday: Fifty Favorites: My Favorite Book Published Each Year of My Life and Fifty More: My Favorite Book at Each Age I've Been. I love reading these.

I'm a huge fan of Juli at Whimpulsive's The Things I Liked This Week. Her list of things she enjoyed each week always lift my spirits.

We've gone fossil hunting this weekend, up near Mineral Wells and Midlothian, in north Texas. I hope we have good weather and good hunting. 

What did you do last week?

Did you read any good books? Share them with us.

Have you seen anything bookish you'd like to tell us about?

What else is going on in your life?

I invite you to link up here and/or at the Sunday Salon page on Facebook each weekend (Saturday-Sunday-Monday) and let us know what you have been doing. Visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

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